For the 

Flower Lovers 
of Richmond 



In Eastern lands they talk in flowers, 
And they tell in a garland their loves and 
cares ; 
Each blossom that blooms in their garden 
bowers 
On its leaves a mystic language bears. 

— /. G, Percival, 



Selected and Arranged by 
VIRGINIA VAN BUREN 

Transferred from 
Libranao'3 Of flea. 

sf p n «8r 



Iris 

"I have a message for you." 

"Yes, many a story of past hours 
I read in these dear withered flowers." 

— Lowell. 

"A poem every flower is, 
And every leaf a line, 
And, with delicious memories. 
They fill this heart of mine." 

— Lowell. 



"Love is the password that shall ope the 
gate 
Before which all ages stand and wait. 
The key to Truth, the mystery of Life, 
A bit of heaven — in a world of strife." 

— Solomon. 



"Tell thyself what I would say — 
Thou knowest it, and I feel too much to 

pray." 

— Dry den. 



Iris in Poetry 

In the spring a livelier iris changes on the 

burnished dove; 
In the spring a young man's fancy lightly 

turns to thoughts of love. 

Tennyson, Locksley Hall. 



Each beauteous flow'r, 
Iris all hues, roses, and jessamine, 
Rear'd high their flourish'd heads between, 

and wrought. 
Mosaic. 

— Milton, Paradise Lost. 

Iris there, with humid bow, 
Waters the odorous banks that blow 
Flowers of more mingled hue 
Than her purpled scarf can show. 

— Milton. 

Thou art the Iris, fair among the fairest, 

Who, armed with golden rod 
And winged with the celestial azure, bearest 

The message of some God. 

— Longfellow. 



Iris 

The Iris was yellow, the moon was pale, 

In the air it was stiller than snow, 
There was even light through the vale, 
But a vaporous sheet 
Clung about my feet, 
And I dared no further go. 
I had passed the pond, I could see the stile. 
The path was plain for more than a mile, 
Yet I dared no further go. 

The iris-beds shone in my face, when, whist! 

A noiseless music began to blow, 
A music that moved through the mist, 
That had not begun, 
Would never be done — 
With that music I must go; 
And I found myself in the heart of the tune, 
Wheeling around to the whirr of the moon, 
With the sheets of the mist below. 

In my hands how warm were the little 
hands, 
Strange, little hands that I did not know; 
I did not think of the elvan bands, 
Nor of anything 
In that whirling ring — 
Here a cock began to crow! 
The little hands dropped that had clung so 

tight. 
And I saw again by the pale dawn light 
The iris-heads in a row. 

— Michael Field. 
"Underneath the Bough." 

— Michael Field. 
Thomas B. Mosher, Portland, Maine. 



Iris in Mythology 



The name iris was given the group of 
plants now adopted as Richmond's official 
flower, by the ancients on account of the 
hues of the flowers. The name in Greek 
means "rainbow," and Iris, the goddess of 
the rainbow, was the swift messenger of 
the gods to men, with the rainbow, which 
connects heaven and earth, as her path. 
Iris was the special messenger of Jupiter 
and Juno. She was the daughter of 
Thaumas and the Ocean nymph Electra. 
In the earlier traditions "she is represented 
as a youthful virgin, with wings of gold, 
who hurries with the swiftness of the wind 
from one end of the world to the other, into 
the depths of the sea and the underworld." 

When Juno sent her to the palace of the 
King of Sleep to bid him send a vision to 
Halcyone to reveal the death of her hus- 
band. Iris is pictured putting on her robe of 
many colors and tingeing the sky with her 
bow as she faithfully set out with her sad 
message to the drowsy abode of Somnus. 

When Neptune was aiding the Greeks 
and driving back the Trojans, Jupiter, who 
sat watching the battle from Olympus, sent 
her with a stern message to Neptune, 
ordering him instantly to quit the field. 

When we read the records of the tender, 
encouraging, and daring messages de- 
livered by the goddess of the rainbow, we 



appreciate the feeling of the ancients in 
giving her name to the flower of gorgeous 
coloring which "has a sword for its leaf and 
a lily for its heart." 

Doubtless the Latin tutor of Oliver 
Wendell Holmes' The Professor at the 
Breakfast-Table, who was debating the 
name for his daughter, recalled these 
characteristics when he came upon the 
lines, 

''Ergo Iris croceis per coelum roscida 
pennis 
Mille trahens varios adverse Sole colores, 

and exclaimed, 'Iris shall be her name!' " 



'/The fleur-de-lys, which is the flower of 
chivalry, has a sword for its leaf and a lily 
for its heart." — Ruskin. 



Iris in History 



The young Crusader, Louis VIL, of 
France, adopted the Iris flower for the 
emblem of his house, about the middle of 
the twelfth century, when he was about to 
undertake the second crusade. Since it 
was Louis' flower, it was called Fleur-de- 
Louis, which soon became' corrupted into 
Fleur-de Luce, and later into Fleur-de-lis, 
or lily flower. 

''The number of Fleur-de-lis used in 
emblazoning the arms of France were re- 
duced to three, in the reign of Charles VL, 
about the year 138L" 

Napolison, who wished to ignore every 
Louis who had sat on the throne, altogether 
discarded the fleur-de-lis as an emblem. 

The flower used by the royal family of 
Louis was white. The large common blue 
iris of the gardens is probably the Illyrian 
iris of the ancients. 'Tt is our far more 
regal looking, but truly democratic blos- 
som jostling its flowers in the marshes that 
is indeed 'born in the purple.' " 



Iris in Our Gardens 

There are about one hundred and 
seventy species of the iris scattered 
throughout the North Temperate Zone, in 
Asia, Europe, and North America, with a 
few species in Northern Africa. There are 
about one hundred species with numberless 
garden varieties in America. With the 
execption of the African, the Indian, and 
the Oncocyclus, Irises are especially 
adapted by their hardiness to growth in 
our gardens. The flag irises are of easy 
culture and grow in any good free garden 
soil. The large common blue iris of cen- 
tral Europe is probably the Illyrian Iris of 
the ancients. The source of the violet- 
scented orris-root is a white or pale blue 
iris from the south of Europe. The com- 
monly called Spanish and English Iris are 
both of Spanish origin. 

Among the many varieties found in 
Richmond gardens are the following : 

Spanish Irises 
Time of planting : Early fall or spring. 
Time of flowering: May and June. 
Place: Spots inclining to moisture. 
Flowers: Bright, distinct, charming. 

These are probably of the easiest culture. 
They are seldom injured by the winter. 
The ''Thunderbolt" is the strongest. 

''English" Irises 
Time of planting: Early fall. 
Time of flowering: June and July. 



Place: Drier than the Spnaish. 

Flowers: Wider in all their parts than the 
Spanish. Limited range of colors, 
white and purple. "Mt. Blanc," pure 
white, is probably the most satisfac- 
tory. 

German Irises 

Time of planting : October and November. 

Time of flowering: May and June. 

Place: Cool, moist. Excellent border plants. 

Flowers: Large, handsome, often stately, 
exhibiting beautiful variegation and 
shades of color (white, blue, yellow). 

Dwarf Irises 
Time of planting : October and November. 
Time of flowering : April and May. 
Place: Dry, sandy soil. Useful border 

plants. 
Flowers: Variously colored, blue, lilac, 

yellow, etc. 

The plant seldom grows over nine inches 
high. 

Japanese Irises 

Time of planting: October and November. 

Time of flowering: June and July. 

Place: Cool, moist. 

Flowers: White through various shades of 

blue to deep purple, with the segments 

variegated with darker veins and 

streaks, or plain. 

The plants attain a height of from two to 

three feet and bear several flower stems. 

The Japanese Iris is comparatively mod- 
ern, and is of a distinct type. 



Compiler's Note 

This attempt to popularize some meager 
information concerning Richmond's official 
flower is offered to the patriotic citizens of 
Richmond with the desire that it will in- 
crease your interest in the Iris and your 
love for flowers in general. Those wishing 
to make a more thorough study of the iris 
may be interested in the references that I 
have found helpful. 



References 

Poetry 

Flora's Dictionary — Mrs. E. W. Wirt: Fielding 

Lucas, Jr., Baltimore; 
Allibone's Quotations — Poetical: J. B. Lippincott 

Company, Philadelphia; 
Familiar Quotations — John Bartlett: Little, Brown 

and Company, Boston; 
Underneath the Bough — Michael Field: Thomas B. 

Mosher, Portland, Maine; 
Richards, Gertrude M. — The Melody of Earth — 

Boston: Houghton, Miffln, 1918; Barrington, 

A. — White Iris, p. 32; Fenolloss — Iris Flowers, 

p. 247-48; 
Rice, Wallace and F. Rice, Humbler Poets, 2nd 

Series — Chicago: McClurg, 1911; Phelps — The 

Iris, p. 69-70; 
Osgood, Irene and H. Wyndham — The Garden 

Anthology — London: Richmond, 1914; Wat- 
son, Rosamond M. Fleur-de-lys, p. 54; Gosse, 

Edmund — The Iris, p. 182; 
Drops from Flora's Cup, or. The Poetry of Flowers, 

by Mary M. Griffin— Boston; Cottrell, 1852; 

Twanley — The Iris, p. 41-42. 



Mythology 

Flora's Dictionary — Mrs. E. W. Wirt: Fielding, 

Lucas, Jr., Baltimore; 
Handbook of Legendary and Mythological Art — 

Mrs. C. E. Clement: Ticknor and Company, 

Boston; 

The Age of Fable — Thomas Bulfinch: Lathrop, Lee 
and Shepard Company; 

Classic Myths in English Literature — C. M. Gayley: 
Ginn and Company, Boston; 

The Encyclopaedia Britannica; 

The New International Encyclopaedia. 

Reals, Katharine M.; Flower Lore and Legend — 

N. Y. Holt, 1917— The Iris, p. 191-198; 
Deas, Lizzie — Flower Favourites; Their Legends — 

London: Allen, 1898; Fleur de Lis and Iris, 

p. 160-169; 

Friend, Hilderic — Flowers and Flower Lore: N. Y. 
Columbian Publishing Co., 1891; 

Gubernatis, Angelo De — La Mythologie Des 
Plantes: Paris; Reinwald, 1882; p. 199-202; 

Mantegozza, Paolo — Le Leggende dei Fiori: Milans: 
Dumolard, 1890. Leggenda dell'iride Fioren- 
tina, p. 419-425. 

History 

Flora's Dictionary — Mrs. E. W. Wirt: Fielding 
Lucas, Jr., Baltimore; 

The Encyclopaedia Britannica; 

Maldgerghem, Jean Van — Les fleurs de lis de 
Vancienne monarchic francaise: leur origine, 
lent nature, leur symholisme. Bruxelles, 1894. 

Botany 

The Encyclopaedia Britannica; Cyclopedia of 
American Horticulture — L. H. Bailey: The 
Macmillan Company, N. Y. 



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